Emma's Trauma
by myluckynumberis4
Summary: A Wemma fanfic; 4 chapters. After a phone call from the hospital in the early hours of the night, Emma learns that her mother has been rushed to hospital as a result of a heart attack. She is plagued for a whole day and a half with flash backs.
1. The phone call

It was 2 am when the telephone began to ring. Will and Emma had been having a movie night and had fallen asleep on the sofa, the television still flashing bright colours over the sleeping couple. Will yawned sleepily and rubbed his eyes, pulling himself up off of the sofa as carefully as he could without disturbing the redhead sleeping so peacefully next to him. He stumbled around in the eerie mixture of moonlight and the light blaring from the television screen surrounding the living room, searching for the telephone. Outside, the rain poured and a sudden loud rumble of thunder boomed out across the night sky, shaking the whole apartment, closely followed by a fine bolt of silver lightening which startled Emma. She looked around, as if she had forgotten where she was and her eyes widened when she realised she had been sleeping on the sofa in her clothes from the day before; two of her biggest pet-hates.

"Will, honey? Where are you? The weather woke me and…" she stopped when she saw her fiancé's face; his blue eyes full of guilt. He swallowed slowly, putting the phone back on the phone stand.  
"Honey, what's wrong? Who was on the phone?" said Emma, her voice concerned.  
"Um, Em. It was your dad. He, um, he said your mom collapsed. She's in hospital."  
Emma's eyes widened and she covered her face quickly with her small, white hands. She swallowed and tried to say something, but her voice couldn't make the words come out. Instead, a horrible strangled sobbing noise came out and two big tears rolled down her pale cheek.  
"The hospital says it's critical, but they don't quite know what triggered it off yet. Your dad said he'll phone in the morning to tell us anything more," Will said, cradling his sobbing fiance in his strong arms. Emma pushed her face into Will's chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

Will helped walk Emma to the bedroom, her petite, shaking body being supported by Will. He took a pair of silky, yellow pyjamas out of the top drawer as Emma sat down on the edge of the bed, staring glazily out of the window at the early-morning sky. Will placed the pyjamas by Emma and pulled the curtains shut, blocking out the view. He leant down and kissed his fiance's forehead; her favourite place to be kissed by him.  
"You want me to stay here with you?" he asked, his voice full of concern.  
"Um, do you mind if I sleep alone tonight? Please? I need time to just think about stuff. I'm sorry," Emma said, trying not to let another tear roll off of her cheek. She hated Will seeing her upset; it made her feel so pathetic and small. Will sat next to Emma, tucking a strand of red hair behind her pearly white ear.  
He planted a short, soft kiss on her lips "Of course, Em. I love you."  
"I love you, too. Good night," Emma said, as Will flicked of the main light and walked out, closing the door behind him.

Emma sat still, listening to the soft padding of Will's footsteps going down the stairs. Even though Emma was now alone, she felt embarrassed to be crying. She wrung her pale hands together; something she did when she felt the need to do it. She'd done it since she was 7, it always managed to comfort her.  
Downstairs, Will sat on the sofa, still warm from his and Emma's bodies that had been sleeping there so happily just half an hour before. He thought of Emma, still sitting on the edge of the bed in the room above him. He remembered the last time she had been like that; her parents had been round for dinner. They were horrible to her, picking on her and treating her OCD as a joke. Will hated the way they treated their daughter, but Will knew that what had happened tonight was going to be hard on Emma. He settled his head down on the cushion and reached behind him for the pull on the lamp.  
"I love you, Em." He whispered, closing his eyes.


	2. Guilt

In the room above, Emma sobbed quietly into her pillow; black smears of mascara staining the pale blue satin material. Emma closed her eyes and took herself to a childhood memory; she saw herself, at seven years old, playing in the garden with her brother. She was trying to climb the big oak tree, when her mother shouted out of the kitchen window, forbidding her.

"Emma, don't do that! You're going to get your pretty dress dirty!" Mrs Pillsbury shouted.

Emma had been used to this as a child; always being told off for doing things that other people her age would do. She didn't understand why, she just took it as it was and learned not to do things that would be likely to get her dirty or messed up.

Emma woke up from her flashback abruptly, realising she had cried herself to sleep. She saw the state of her pillow and a startled choke came out of her throat. She got her pyjamas on quickly, counting each button as she did it up. She took the stained slip off of the pillow and bundled it under her arm, taking it down to the kitchen to put in the washing machine. Padding across the laminated wooden flooring in the hallway, she glanced into the living room, the pale, yellow glow of the rising sun shining onto Will's sleeping body as he lightly snored. Emma walked over to the sofa, smiling to herself at how peaceful her fiancé looked. She leant over and gently kissed his lips that were slightly parted. He grunted and turned over, surprising Emma. She quickly walked off to the kitchen and bundled the pillow slip into the washing basket. The clock on the wall read '05.48' but Emma didn't feel tired. She looked round at the kitchen, the stools by the counter pulled out at uneven angles. She quickly rearranged them so they were aligned, reminding herself of her mother. Emma sighed a loud sigh. She opened the fridge and closed it immediately; the smell of dairy products making her want to gag. Instead, she settled for a cold glass of water from the fridge and took it to the dining table. She closed her eyes and rested her head on her arms.

"Emma, guess where we're taking you today!" Mr Pillsbury grinned, holding Mrs Pillsbury to his side.

Emma's amber eyes widened and she smiled. "I don't know, where?" she said.

"A dairy farm! Are you excited?" said her mother, clapping.

"Yes! Oh, my God! Yes!" Emma said, happily.

At the dairy farm, the Pillsbury family walked around, putting up with Emma's obsession with working on a dairy farm. She was always going on about wanting to work on one. Emma was excitedly walking around, asking the tour guides millions of questions about working on a dairy farm, but she enjoyed the yoghurt testing the best.

"Mmm, this one tastes good, mom! Try it, come on!" She said, happily and excitedly.

Everything was going well, until Emma's brother decided to push her in to the runoff lagoon. Emma screamed and cried, whilst Mrs Pillsbury looked anxiously at her husband; they were mortified.

The Pillsburys drove home that day, with Emma shaking and crying in the backseat, the rancid smell of manure filling the car. Mr Pillsbury coughed, breaking the silence. Emma met her mother's disapproving glance in the side mirror and quickly looked away.

A salty tear splattered onto the shiny wooden surface of the dining table and Emma quickly wiped her eyes, snapping out of the vivid memory of that horrible day. She went into the living room and carefully got on the sofa with Will, cuddling up to him. He didn't wake up, but he moved over so there was room and put his arms protectively round Emma's waist. Emma felt secure and sniffed in the comforting smell of Will's aftershave, slowly drifting off to sleep.

Will pulled back the curtains, the sun light shining into the big room. Emma yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Will smiled at her.

"Morning sweetie, your dad phoned,"

"He did? Wow what's the time?" Emma said, her voice sounding panicky.

"It's half 8, you obviously needed to sleep, Ems. Anyway, your dad said that your mum is okay, she's conscious now but she's still not in a good way. Your dad said we can drop by at about half 3, if you want? I made you coffee, by the way. It's on the side behind you,"

"I was quite tired I guess, after what happened… Okay, I'd like that. Thank you, Will. I'll have to give you something in return, I guess," Emma said, smiling coyly at Will as she picked up her drink and took a sip. "What do you want to do today? I mean, we have ages before we have to go to the hospital. And I owe you after last night,"

"How?" Will chuckled.

"You had to sleep on the sofa! I was being selfish, I'm sorry,"

"Em, sweetie, you weren't selfish at all. Come on, go and get ready, I'll clean up down here and then we're going out,"

"Where? What?"

"It's a surprise and I know you hate surprises but you'll like this one, I promise you. Go on, but you have to be quick!" Will said, playfully shoving Emma out of the room.


	3. Like mother, like daughter

Emma went into the bathroom and smiled at herself in the mirror, pretending not to notice the black bags under her eyes. She felt happy in a way, knowing that her mum was okay. She got showered, spending only half an hour in there which was a new record. She got dressed into some blue jeans and an old checked shirt of Will's, not wanting to look too overdressed. Will came in and saw what she was wearing. "You look cute, Em. I wonder who's shirt that is," he said, smirking.

"Oh, I don't know. Just some handsome, curly haired charmer with a cute Kirk Douglas chin dimple. Now, Will please tell me where we're going!" Emma said, as Will wrapped his arms round her sides and tickled her.

"I said 'It's a surprise' so just wait and see," Will said. "You'll love it, Em,"

"Hmm, I hope so," Emma said, planting millions of kisses on her fiancé's mouth as he gently pushed her out of the bedroom door.

The couple set off in Will's car, his favourite record playing. He sang along with the lyrics while Emma sat next to him, his voice comforting her. She looked out the window and saw they were heading towards town.

"Where are we going?"  
"Wait and see, we're almost there,"

Will pulled up outside Breadstix and Emma looked slightly disappointed; she'd been secretly hoping they were just going to have a cute, romantic walk.

"Oh, Breadstix. Are we having lunch?"

"You bet. Come on, Ems."

The couple sat opposite each other, taking in the smell of food and the noises of the other people eating their lunch. Emma remembered when her parents had taken her to Breadstix when she was a little girl, and how her mother would give her a napkin to clean her glass.

Will ordered their lunch, ordering pasta for himself and a sandwich for Emma. The waitress brought their drinks over and Emma had to resist reaching for the napkin on her table. She repeated a comforting thought in her head and smiled when she remembered that she would see her mother in a few hours. Will noticed Emma looked nervous so he gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

"You okay, Em?"

"Yes, I'm just… thinking. About my mum and stuff,"

"She'll be fine, sweetie. We'll see her soon, and then we'll go home, maybe watch some more movies tonight? Only we'll watch them in bed in our pyjamas so we don't have a repeat of last night, eh?" Will laughed. Emma smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Thanks Will. That sounds good, thank you. Oh look, our meal's here!" Emma said, as the plates of food were put on their table.

After they ate their meal, they paid the bill and left for the hospital. Emma was starting to get nervous and Will tried his best to make conversation, to take Emma's mind off of her mother.

"You okay, Em?"

"Uh, yeah, fine um how bad do you think she is? I mean maybe we should go home… I'm not sure I'm ready to see her yet," Emma said, her voice filled with panic. She began wringing her hands and tried to hold back the tears, causing a painful lump in her throat. Will looked at her and took her hands in his own.

"Emma, Emma, its okay! It'll be fine, I promise. Look, we can go back if you really want, but I think you should definitely see her. I mean, she is you mum and I know she hasn't been very nice to you in the past, but maybe she's changed after what's happened,"

"I'm sorry, I'm being stupid. No, we're going to see her. I'll be fine,"

"Okay, sweetheart. We're almost there now, anyway," said Will.

As they got out of the car at the hospital, Emma's heart began to beat uncontrollably fast. She hated hospitals; the smell, the noise – everything about them. And she knew hospitals are filled with germs and pesticides. They walked through the automatic doors, the smell of rubbing alcohol filling their nostrils. Will went over to the receptionist.

"Hi I'm Will Schuester, this is my fiancé, Emma Pillsbury. Her mother was taken in this morning? Rose Pillsbury?"

The receptionist clicked on her computer, "She's in the upstairs ward, first door to the right, that way," she said, pointing and smiling.

"Thanks," said Will and Emma together.

The couple walked off, holding hands. Emma's hands were clammy and she felt wobbly. They climbed the stair case and made their way along the ward until they got to the right door.


	4. The reconciliation

Will turned the shiny silver door knob, walking slowly into the room. Emma looked at her mother, laying on the hospital bed. Her father got up off of the visiting chair and patted Will on the back. He turned to his daughter and gave her a squeeze.

"Emma, are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Um, is mom awake?" Emma said, pointing towards Mrs Pillsbury.

"She's asleep but I'll wake her if you want,"

"No, no, it's fine. Leave her. So, what happened?" Emma asked, sitting down on the spare visiting chair. Will walked around the hospital room, awkwardly.

"Do you guys want coffee? I'll go and get some," he offered.

"Yes thanks, Will. Emma?"

"Um, no I'll be fine thank you,"

"Okay, I'll be right back," Will said, leaving Emma and her father to speak.

"So?" Emma said, her voice sounding stressed.

"Well, we had a row; my fault. Then she started breathing funny, clutching her chest. Next thing I know, she's on the floor having some sort of seizure. I was so scared, Emma. She went unconscious and I didn't know what to do. I thought of phoning you and Will, but I thought better of it, didn't want you both worrying-"

"You should have phoned us, dad,"

"Emma, are you joking? I know what you're like; you worry about things so much. Remember when you were younger and your brother got food poisoning? You thought it was contagious and wouldn't go near him for a whole month because you were worried you'd catch it, too. You were always a bit of a weird child, but that's just our Freaky-Deaky," Rusty said, laughing. He didn't notice Emma's stony expression.

"What did you have a row about?" Emma asked.

"Um well it wasn't anything serious, just a little misunderstanding. But we're okay now," Rusty looked over at his wife who yawned and woke up, smiling when she saw her daughter.

"Is that my Freaky-Deaky?" Rose said, reaching out to hug her daughter.

Emma grimaced at the pet name but leaned forward and hugged her mother back. "Mom, I've been so worried. I'm so glad you're okay. But I need to say something," she said, looking at her father "And I want both of you to hear it."

"What is it, sweetie. Oh God, you're not pregnant, are you? Rusty, is she pregnant?"

Emma sighed and rolled her eyes, "No, I am not pregnant. And even if I was, would it make any difference? I know you're not in the best condition right now, but I need to say this. The past eighteen hours, I've been thinking and thinking. I was thinking 'Hang on, she could die tonight. And I'll have so many regrets and so many things I want to tell her' so I'm going to tell you know, and I've been feeling like this for… let's just say a long time. All you've ever wanted was for me to be happy, but I feel like as a child, you were too overprotective of me, particularly about hygiene. I'm not blaming you entirely for how I am today, but I can't help but feel like it's partly your fault. I'm sorry and I feel so terrible for saying it, but it is how I feel. And sometimes, I feel like you both, as my parents, treat me differently. I know I don't make things easy for you, with my OCD. But you could at least show a little compassion for me. I'm sorry about what's happened; I really am. But I feel like it's now or never for me to tell you this,"

Emma's parents glanced at each other. Rose cleared her throat. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Emma. You know, bringing you up hasn't been easy. You were such a picky, fussy child. And I wish we were closer, I really do. I feel like I've failed you as a mother, and I regret that now, seeing you all grown up, getting married, planning on starting a family. And I'm sorry. I know we're never going to be as close as I thought we would be when I found out I was having a baby girl, but I hope that when I'm out of hospital, we can be closer," tears stung her eyes and she swallowed as Mr Pillsbury put his hand protectively on her shoulder. Emma looked away from them both, hating how they were making her feel guilty for being honest with them.

"Emma, you can't just blame your mother for how you are, especially when she's in this condition. I know we might not always have been the best parents, but we tried our hardest. That's all I have to say,"

Will came through the door and saw Emma standing facing away from her parents, doing the face she always does when she tried to hold back her tears. Her mother was crying into Rusty's shoulder while he glared at Emma. Will coughed uncomfortably in the awkward silence, causing Rose to quickly wipe her eyes and smile at Will.

"Hi Will, thank you for bringing Emma to visit me, I really appreciate it,"  
"Hey, Rose. Good to see you're feeling better now; me and Ems have been so worried! I have your coffee here, Rusty, the stupid machine kept stopping" he said, laughing awkwardly, trying to break the ice between Emma and her parents. Rusty took the polystyrene cup from Will and drank it, still keeping his eyes fixed on Emma. Will put his hand firmly on Emma's waist, making her flinch. She took a deep breath, turned around and smiled at Will. She looked at her parents. "Well, Will and I are going to get going. So if you want to let us know when you get back from the hospital, that would be great. Okay, bye. Come on, Will," she said, waving at her parents who stared after her.

Tears filled her eyes. She didn't want to just leave like this.

Suddenly, without even negotiating what she was about to do, she ran over to her father and hugged him.

"I love you both so much and I think that what's happened over the past 24 hours has brought us all closer together. I know that it's going to take a long, long time for us to get on full parent-daughter terms, but I would like if we could all try,"

Mrs Pillsbury smiled at her husband, "Emma, I love you and no matter what happens from here on, I promise that we will both be here for you, so you can know that you have 3 people to count on when you feel like times are tough,"

And that was that. Emma left the hospital that evening feeling like she had accomplished something. What she had accomplished, she didn't know, but she felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Will smiled at his wife, sitting next to him in the car. He could tell that for once, her pretty little mind wasn't worrying about something. He could tell that his wife was happy - genuinely happy, for the first time in ages. This comforted him. The couple drove home, the sun slowly setting as Emma fell asleep in the passenger seat to Will's soft singing. He lifted her out of the car and carried her to the bedroom.

Emma woke up and smiled, "Thank you Will,"

"For what?" he said, gently throwing her on to the bed, kissing her softly.

"Well, just for everything. I feel like I've accomplished something, I can't describe it but I just feel so… so happy with everything right now. And it's all thanks to you. You've been so comforting the past day, and I know what happened to my mum wasn't that serious but if it had been and she was sick for longer than a day, I know that I would be able to cope because of you. So thank you. For everything," she looked at Will's face, as he kneeled over on top of her.

He leant forward to kiss her, "I love you so much right now. And I look forward to spending my future with you," he smiled.

"Me too, Will. Getting married, starting a family, buying our first proper house, growing old together… all these things and only so little time to –"

Will interrupted her with a kiss, "We have so much time to do all of this, Em. No need to rush any of it, we'll just take each day as it comes, and just enjoy being together,"

Emma sighed, "You're right, Will," she let out a loud yawn "I'm really tired,"

"Me too, shall we snuggle?" he asked, wrapping the duvet over their bodies. He looked and Emma had already fallen asleep. He kissed her cheek and they both fell asleep against each other, while the sun went down outside the bedroom window.


End file.
